The proposed Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was sent to the states for ratification in 1972. By the end of 1973, thirty states had ratified the ERA. In 1974, three more were added to the yes column. The three states that ratified the ERA in 1974 were Maine, Montana and Ohio.
The pace had slowed significantly. In 1972, the year the amendment passed Congress, 22 states ratified. Many feminists and other equality activists had assumed that ERA ratification by three-fourths of the states was a foregone conclusion. However, eight states ratified in 1973, and then 1974 brought the dismal total of only three states. The anti-feminists were doing serious damage to the struggle for equal rights.
Organizations such as the National Organization for Women began ratcheting up their efforts to ensure that the necessary 38 out of 50 states would vote yes. Unfortunately, the grand total was only 35 states when the final deadline arrived.